Cape Town - Sharks assistant coach Grant Bashford believes their forward pack is strong enough to topple the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Despite the team struggling during large parts against the Blues last week, a strong forward effort pulled the Sharks through to a last-gasp 22-20 win at Kings Park.
And Bashford is confident they can carry that forward dominance into the derby clash this weekend.
“We know with this pack, with our Boks back, we can match any pack in the world, we saw that in the (Blues) match,” he told the Sharks website.
“When they put their minds to it, there aren’t too many who are going to stop them. It was good to see them operating as they did."
The Sharks narrowly lost 18-16 to the Bulls in their last encounter at Kings Park in late May, but Bashford believes that was a game that could have gone either way.
“Our last match (before the June break) was against the Bulls and bar a last penalty we gave away with some indiscipline, we had that game. This whole campaign has been around critical moments - a little mistake here, a little mistake there - and if we had got that game, maybe things could have been a little different. But that’s rugby.
“And we know that if we can play well, keep the ball and put the Bulls under pressure for long periods, we can beat anyone with this team.”
The clash at Loftus kicks off at 19:15 on Saturday.
Despite the team struggling during large parts against the Blues last week, a strong forward effort pulled the Sharks through to a last-gasp 22-20 win at Kings Park.
And Bashford is confident they can carry that forward dominance into the derby clash this weekend.
“We know with this pack, with our Boks back, we can match any pack in the world, we saw that in the (Blues) match,” he told the Sharks website.
“When they put their minds to it, there aren’t too many who are going to stop them. It was good to see them operating as they did."
The Sharks narrowly lost 18-16 to the Bulls in their last encounter at Kings Park in late May, but Bashford believes that was a game that could have gone either way.
“Our last match (before the June break) was against the Bulls and bar a last penalty we gave away with some indiscipline, we had that game. This whole campaign has been around critical moments - a little mistake here, a little mistake there - and if we had got that game, maybe things could have been a little different. But that’s rugby.
“And we know that if we can play well, keep the ball and put the Bulls under pressure for long periods, we can beat anyone with this team.”
The clash at Loftus kicks off at 19:15 on Saturday.